I'M NOT REYDA!
by blakleafeon
Summary: Ralla looks a lot like Reyda... How unfortunate for her that the insane beggar, Narfi, vowed never to let Reyda out of his sight again... TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE WHY ARE NARFI AND JENASSA MISSING FROM THE CHARACTER LIST?


She was just on her way to Ivarstead for a pilgrimage up the 7000 steps. She knew she wouldn't be able to get into High Hrothgar but climbing the steps and meditating on the emblems that showed the path there would be enough to prepare her. Maybe one day they would accept her and teach her the way of the voice. Ralla had traveled from Rorikstead to make her way to the throat of the world. Needless to say, she was excited when the town finally came into view.

Ivarstead was a fairly small village with a Mill, farmers and the Vilemyr Inn. Ralla was dressed in a dark traveling robe that kept her surprisingly warm. This was good considering the farther she went up the mountain, the colder it would get. She kept her hood up to keep her ears and neck protected from the wind. As she made her way into the town she couldn't help but notice an old rundown farmhouse across the river. As she traveled across Skyrim she had picked up the habit of exploring things like this in case they held gold or other valuables that she could use to buy food or a room at the inn. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she couldn't help but go to check it out. She was quite surprised when she found that there was actually someone still living there.

On the broken porch was a man wearing some old rags. He was hunched over and sitting with his back against the railing, facing away from her and muttering something to himself.

"I can't see you, Reyda! I can't find you! Why are you hiding! Hiding, hide hide hide! Don't make me sad!" the poor guy sounded so troubled that Ralla couldn't help but approach him and maybe try to help.

"Are you okay?" she said to him. He turned to look at her then got up before replying in a sad voice.

"Reyda was here, then gone. Went to gather plants and never came home. Nope nope... Everyone looked and no one could find her. Wilhelm said she'll be back... told Narfi not to worry... Reyda will come back..." his speech was frantic with a slight darkness in it, leading Ralla to believe that he might have gone mad.

"What's wrong with you?" at this point she was starting to back away, regretting her decision to explore.

"With father i said goodbye... with mother i said goodbye. Reyda leaves and... Narfi can't say goodbye." she stopped her progress now as she started to feel sorry for him. She knew it was hard, losing someone you love. "Makes Narfi very very sad... Narfi needs Reyda to say goodbye." Ralla frowned as she looked at the poor man who had lost everything. She pulled her hood back and reached into her coin purse to pull out five septims to give to him.

"Here. Take this." she held it out to him and then realized that he was now staring at her with hungry eyes. "What are you...?" he didn't say anything. He just stared. She began to feel a little uncomfortable and so just dropped the gold in front of him and headed back into town. She shook the feeling of being watched and stopped at the inn to grab some supplies before making her trip up the mountain. The innkeeper, Wilhelm stocked her up with water and loaves of bread. As she stashed them in her bag she remembered the creepy beggar.

"So what's the story with Narfi?" She asked. Wilhelm replied while he cleaned the counter.

"Ah he's harmless. He's been in a state ever since his sister Reyda disappeared over a year ago. He just keeps to himself in whats left of his folk's farmhouse across the river."

"You told Narfi she's coming back?"

"I just said that to make the poor guy feel better. I'm pretty sure she's dead. Reyda would gather ingredients from the small island in the river east of here. Then one day, she just vanished. I tried to look for her... but she never turned up." Ralla thought to herself. She really did feel bad for the guy... maybe she could try looking around the island to see if she could find anything they didn't? "You know... you kind of look like her. The same hair, the same eyes..." Something made a connection in her mind.

"That must be why he was looking at me the way he was... I'm gonna take a look around there and see if i can't find anything." Wilhelm smiled at her.

"That's awfully kind of you, Stranger. But be careful. There's a hollow out there folks call "Geirmund's Hall". There's no telling what's in there." she told him not to worry and left the Vilemyr Inn. She headed over to the bridge that crossed the river to the east he had mentioned. She looked upstream and saw the island. She was about to walk over there when something caught her eye. In the water close to shore were a couple of arrows just floating there. She took off her robe and hung it on a tree before stepping into the water and looking around on the river floor near the arrows. Sure enough, she found it. A skeleton laid out on the riverbed with a satchel near the hip. She grabbed the satchel and swam back to shore, putting her robe back on.

Rummaging through the satchel, she found a silver necklace that must have belonged to Reyda. She also found a bit of gold and what used to be alchemical ingredients gathered from the island. They were a year old and soaked and not much use to her now. Excited, she immediately took the necklace back to Narfi. When she walked up to the house, his eyes were on her again. She gave him the necklace and he smiled a little bit.

"Reyda..." Ralla couldn't help but smile. He seemed as happy as a madman could be.

"Reyda will be home soon, Narfi." she didn't have the heart to tell him she was dead. She just couldn't do it.

"Reyda..." was all he said, clutching the necklace as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. With a skip in her step, Ralla made her way back to the road and started her journey up the mountain.

When night began to fall she made her way back to the Vilemyr Inn to rest and think about all she learned from her venture...

X-x-X

When Ralla awoke, her head was pounding and she was still very sleepy. Memories of returning to the inn and dining on salmon steaks and drinking ale were piecy and hazed. It took her a while of clearing her head and her vision before she realized that she was no longer laying in the warm bed of the Inn. Then panic set in. Where was she? What happened? She didn't drink that much, why did her head hurt so much? She tried to cry out, expressing her confusion and faint fear, but her voice was weak and she had not the energy to scream. It was then that she realized she was sitting on a damp straw-strewn floor and the only light was that of a single torch set on the stone wall across from her. Her arms were restrained above her head. She was just barely able to move her head and look up to see them in shackles that were set low on the wall. She tried pulling at them but they were too strong and she was still not completely in control of her body.

She tried once again to cry for help but all she could manage was a raspy whisper barely loud enough to be heard across the small room. Her mind was still hazy and the dull panic wasn't helping her think. Then a familiar voice found its way to her ears.

"Reyda... you're awake now. That's good. Narfi always knew you'd come back, yes yes he knew all along." she made an attempt to look up at him but was too tired to do so and was only able to turn her head to the side against her shoulder.

"Nar...fi...?" she croaked.

"You're home now, Reyda." she could feel his hands just above her neck, fastening something onto her. As she could only look down, she saw the silver necklace that she had returned to him earlier that day. She understood. "And Narfi is going to take good care of you and never let you leave again." she gathered all her strength into her voice and without lifting her head she spoke.

"Not... Reyda..." she whispered.

"What's that, Reyda? Narfi can't hear you."

"I'm not Reyda." she felt her strength coming back and this time she could speak a little louder. Narfi was silent for a moment. Before she knew what was going on she felt a harsh slap across her face. It burned and made her head pound harder. It didn't help any when he raised his voice.

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME, REYDA! NARFI WAITED HERE ALL THIS TIME FOR YOU TO COME BACK! You won't get away from me again, Reyda, nope nope... and i've got plenty of nightshade to make sure of it..." did he say nightshade? Ralla knew all about that. She had once practiced alchemy. It didn't really suit her so she abandoned it but not before she learned all she needed to know about poison. Nightshade in particular was very interesting. It made a weak poison. In order for it to actually kill someone it would have to be ingested in large doses. A small dose would cause it's victim to fall into drowsiness. A little more and they would begin to hallucinate and become very ill. Narfi knew this too. He probably learned it from his sister when she was still alive. He grabbed Ralla by her hair and pulled her head back.

"Now eat your breakfast, Reyda. Wilhelm gave me this bread. It's still warm." he put the loaf of bread to her mouth. She dared not risk being slapped again so she cooperated. As she struggled to chew the bread she wondered how he managed to catch her. He had obviously slipped her some nightshade the night before. That would explain the missing pieces in her memory and her current condition. But how did he get it into her system in the first place? She got her answer when he stopped to give her a drink of ale to wash down the bread. It brought back a memory of her observing that last night's ale had tasted a bit strange. He stood when she finished the bread.

"Narfi has to go now. But he will be back later to feed you again. Sit tight and don't even think about trying to get away." with that, he left the room through a trap door on the other side of the room. Light shined through the door when he opened it and climbed up the ladder and out. Ralla sat in the dark for a long time, trying to clear her head and fighting the effects of the latest dose of nightshade infused ale. If she could only gather enough energy to scream. Maybe someone would hear her from the mill. She was almost certain she was in the basement under Narfi's dilapidated shack, but she couldn't recall seeing the trapdoor from the surface. It was a few hours before she had the strength to lift her head and look around. The room wasn't very big. She was settled at one corner of the room with a torch in the middle of the opposite wall. The ladder leading out was propped against the same wall she was chained to.

Sitting across from the ladder was an alchemy lab. She assumed that to be where he prepared the nightshade that he mixed in her ale. Her head was clearing a bit and she became all too aware of the pain in her wrists and her arms. They weren't held too high above her head but they were stiff and the cold metal cuffs were a bit tight on her. The chains shook and rattled as she tried once more at pulling at them. Her effort was in vain but she thought if she could just pull the chain out of the wall she could get away.

As more of her energy came back she tried and failed to stand but changed tactics and cried out for help. It wasn't much but she knew, in time, she could do better. Time went by slowly for her and she found herself staring into the fire of the torch, mesmerized by it's flickering and how the light danced on the stones around her. She developed a slight habit of rhythmically pulling at the chains as she watched the torch. Her panic had subsided enough for her to think clearly. He hadn't put nearly enough nightshade in that last batch of ale to put her to sleep. She could use that to her advantage. She had her strength back. He had to have a key on him somewhere to unlock her shackles. If she could attack him when he came back... she had the strength to stand, maybe if she could kick him hard enough into the wall and knock him out?  
It seemed unlikely to work but it was the best she could do. She struggled to her feet and stretched out her legs, moved her arms around and hummed to herself to test her voice. She took this chance to see if her lungs could save her.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! I'M HERE, SOMEBODY PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF TALOS GET ME OUT!" she yelled for hours, desperate and determined that someone would hear her. Time passed by still as slow as ever and she screamed until her throat was dry and scratchy. Nobody came. Nobody heard. She couldn't hear anything from beyond the door. She slid back down to the floor as a wave of complete helplessness overtook her. She hung her head and her body shook with sobs as the determination and all her energy was sapped from her. The tears fell freely and her soft cries echoed in the dark room...

Narfi returned a few hours later and she felt slightly hopeful again. She still had one more trick she could try to free herself. When the door opened, she stood up and prepared herself. Narfi was a bit surprised to see her standing.

"Oh no, Reyda... that ale didn't have enough nightshade in it if you are able to stand." he approached her and she readied herself to lash out at him. Before she could even lift her leg, his fist landed hard into her stomach, causing her to double over as the breath escaped her then all went dark and the room faded out when he slammed her head into the stone...

This time when Ralla woke, she could feel warm blood pouring from her temple and her stomach was bruised. Her legs didn't feel much better. She opened her eyes to see Narfi at the alchemy lab crushing something in the mortar. He then poured it into a bottle that he had set next to a bowl of soup. He made sure to force a large amount of the nightshade mead down her throat before feeding her the soup. When he finished feeding her, he left again.

Things continued like this for a while. The only way she knew how many days passed by was by counting how many times he visited her. He came back every morning and returned in the evening for dinner. Any other time he came in, it was to make sure she was still incapacitated by the nightshade and that she hadn't escaped. She had tried. Every day she fell into a routine of watching the fire and pulling at the chains. At one point she had tried to kill herself by slamming the back of her head into the wall. All that accomplished was bloodying her scalp and knocking her out. Not that she had the energy to try anything else. In the later days of her imprisonment, after she had completely lost count of how many times Narfi came, she resorted to praying. She begged the divines to release her from her torment. She cried harshly as she asked them why this was happening. She even tried reasoning with the daedra if they would only help her just this once...

Eventually she gave up. She killed time by giving in to sleep. When she wasn't sleeping, she was crying. Sobbing quietly at her hopeless situation. As he constantly reminded her, she would be there in that basement "forever and ever". One of the nights that Narfi came back, something was different. He seemed anxious and was speaking quicker than usual but more to himself than to her. The next day he wasn't there to feed her breakfast. She spent the day hungry and pulling out of her sleepiness.

When he finally came back, the trap door opened slowly and moonlight shined through. The air was immediately heavy with the smell of alcohol. He held a large bottle of what seemed to be alto wine in his hand. He slowly worked his way down the ladder, too drunk to coordinate. She was awake but still had no energy to fight. Panic slowly seeped into her. She got the feeling something very bad was about to happen. He stumbled over to the alchemy lab and set the bottle down. He pulled a large sprig of something from his satchel and began to crush it in with some nightshade. He then poured the strange substance into the bottle, walked over to Ralla, pulled her head back and forced the liquid down her throat.

She choked as the burning liquid filled her mouth and throat and then settled into a fire in her belly. He pulled the bottle out of her mouth and her head dropped again as she coughed and tried to force the alto wine out of her windpipe. She could taste the nightshade but her mouth was also filled with refreshing mint. She felt him standing in front of her and heard the shuffling of cloth. She looked up to see him devoid of clothes and fully erect.

"Reyda... you make Narfi very happy Reyda..." the tears started to fall from her eyes. She couldn't fight him. The nightshade wouldn't allow her any hint of hope for escaping this. So she just cried silently as he pulled her head back and jammed himself into her mouth. She choked. He pulled back, saliva covering his cock, and let her cough before going in a bit more gently. He tangled his hands in her dirty red hair and pulled her back and forth in rhythm with his hips, cooing softly to her.

"Reyda... oh Reyda..." she shook and cried wondering why the gods had forsaken her. Why this man who had been touched by Sheogorath had to have lost a sister that looked just like her... He was beginning to get a little rougher with her and she was choking again. His moaning was getting a bit louder. "REYDA...!"

As she felt warmth fill her mouth, she heard the trapdoor open roughly, a blade make contact with skin and a body hit the floor. She struggled to look up, his seed pouring out of her mouth, to see Narfi lying motionless on the floor, blood spilling from a gash in his side.

"By the gods..." a rough voice said from above her. A cloth was wiping the cum from her face and she could see scales. "Are you alright?" She looked at her savior to find that he was an argonian with green scales. He was dressed dashingly in tight black and red leather. She smiled weakly.

"Thank... you..." the brotherhood... she had been saved by the Dark Brotherhood. She drifted off to sleep, peacefully...


End file.
